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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Right now, Linda and I are preparing to spend a week working with a group of schools in Sydney Australia who are interested in using Spirals of Inquiry to deepen their own work. As we were putting together our slides and our ideas for tomorrow, we were reflecting on some of the amazing work we have seen recently in BC. Over the next while, we are going to share some specific school stories with you on this blog - and we hope you will be as impressed and excited by the work as we have been.

Here are three examples just to kick this off.

Some of you may have read about the work on personalized learning taking place at George Bonner Middle Schools in Cowichan. We are pretty confident that if we dropped into George Bonner, we would be able to hear learners provide thoughtful answers to the key learning questions. Check out this recent article from Adminfo by principal Heidi Grant.

This year, we were fortunate to spend time in the Coast Mountains School District and to see the transformative work underway in a number of schools. We also really like this image from Suwilaawks Elementary School that was included in their growth plan. The work at Suwilaawks was also featured at the network seminar, but if you missed that, then take a look at this short video of a school on the move.

Finally, there has been a lot of interest in the Community of Learners work in Nanaimo. We really appreciate the teamwork that has created a short video explaining some of the key aspect of this work.
In addition to the Community of Leaners, there are also great video clips from other schools on the network website. Stay tuned for more stories about BC schools over the summer!

And, all ideas about sunny Australia can be put to rest for this week at least. Storms are rolling in one after another.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Thank you to all who
attended the annual Network Seminar held on Sunday, May 5th, 2013 in
Vancouver. The focus of the
Seminar this year was on the ‘down home world class work’ of BC educators,
researchers and practitioners, and how that collaborative, world class,
innovative work is contributing to the Network vision of EVERY learner crossing
the stage with dignity, purpose and options. It was a timely reminder that we all have a lot to
celebrate!

Chief Ian Campbell of
the Squamish Nation provided the welcome for the day, and spoke thoughtfully
about the value of sharing traditions, language and learning with future
generations. Participants then had
the opportunity to hear from a number of world class presenters:

-Judy Halbert & Linda Kaser
celebrated the disciplined approach to inquiry in which Network members
collectively engage, and how this innovative approach is creating new
opportunities for the NOII and AESN.

-Laura Tait in describing how Aboriginal
education is for everyone, reflected on how the personal is pedagogical, and
encouraged us to reflect on who we are as educators and in so doing, ‘live’
inquiry.

-Trish Rosborough shared her personal
stories of building culture and identity. She demonstrated through story the
value of building collaboration relationships between education and Aboriginal
communities.

-Nancy Perry & Deborah Butler spoke
to the benefits of creating environments that support self-regulated learning
while encouraging learner autonomy, and building capacity for educators to
support this learning.

-Paige Fisher, using her intriguing canoe
metaphor and emphasis on teacher learning/teamwork, explained how creating a
sense of belonging for learners is foundational to building confidence and
success.

-Brooke Moore captured how the Network is
crucial as a safe space for teacher learning and collaboration, and the courage
to swim against the stream as a collective of ‘blue fish.’

-Catherine McGregor shared observations
and reflections from her recent AESN impact study, and how Aboriginal inquiry
is lifting all learners to new heights of engagement.

-Jim Wright closed the day with a call to
action, encouraging educators to take risks and embrace creativity through
thoughtful leadership.

These presentations are now available to view on theNOII
website. Seminar participants also had the opportunity to network and
break out into smaller, focused learning sessions. Some key ideas that emerged include:

·Difference between
“professional development” and “teacher learning” is profound – a change in
mindset.

·Teacher learning is driven by
teacher needs just as student learning is driven by student needs. There must
be space for teachers to address their individual learning needs within school
growth plans.

·Teacher learning requires
support on different levels, including sharing knowledge, experiences, research
and beliefs. Building
relationships and trust between teachers helps build the capacity for teacher
learning.

·Celebrate both students’ and
teachers’ successes in learning on a regular basis!

The themes of the day
were seamlessly pulled together through the skilled facilitation of Debbie Leighton Stephens and Lynne Tomlinson. Thanks to everyone
involved for contributing to another successful Seminar!

Save the date now for next year. Seminar 2014 will take place the first weekend in May (May 2,3,4). We are planning to build in more global connections and opportunities to network both within BC and beyond. Stay tuned for more details in the fall.